Let Freedom Ring

As our nation celebrates its 232nd birthday, I hope we'll all take the time to reflect on what our independence means ... we have what I consider immeasurable freedoms in this country, comparatively speaking. My Wonder Twin has posted an incredible essay on what boils down to intolerance and oppression of a right that a great number of Americans take completely for granted - being able to say or write whatever we want without fear of persecution. Robert D. Raiford, curmudgeon at large of the John Boy and Billy Big Show, often rants about how we live in the "United States of the Offended", and he's not far off the mark in my opinion. Just think about it, and when you get angry or upset about something someone has said or written, thank God and our founding fathers that you're entitled to speak your mind about it, and either do it or move on. Kudos to you, Sister.

I was trolling back through some of this week's posts on Murderati, and Thursday's post from Rob Browne hit home for me in a way that can only be understood when you take it in context of what today is all about. Last Sunday our church choir (of which my WGH is a part) did our 4th of July celebration, and when they played and sang the medley of the songs of the Armed Forces (complete with a video), I completely lost it.

As most of you know by now, I am the proud daughter of an Air Force veteran - Dad did two tours of duty in Viet Nam, flying F4 Phantoms in combat and earning a chestful of medals. The first eight years of my life were spent on Air Force bases around the US and in Southeast Asia. (The GP doesn't call me "the quintessential Air Force brat" for nothing.) This, in response to Rob's post, is what makes me cry. There are actually a lot of things that choke me up: movies (like that last scene in You've Got Mail - I'm a sucker for a happy ending like that and it gets me every time I watch it); books sometimes, if the scene is really well written (we won't talk about what Jo Rowling did to me when she killed off a certain beloved character in the 7th Harry Potter book); even - craziest of all - TV commercials. There's this one where a guy lands at an airport, gets in his rental car and drives with the help of some GPS system to a house he's only seen a picture of on his cell phone, and when the young man opens the door, he says incredulously, "Papa?" I bawled like a baby.

But nothing - and I mean nothing - makes me cry like I do when I hear the Air Force theme song ... it's gone through a lot of changes over the years, I've discovered, being first written for the Army Air Corps back in 1957, before the Air Corps branched off into its own entity and became the United States Air Force. To a lot of you, this won't mean as much, but for those of you who know me, you can only imagine what this song means to me on a very deep, personal level. So thank you, Dad, for serving our country, and today, we all celebrate you and your fellows for fighting to retain the freedoms our founding fathers set forth over 230 years ago.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun.
Here they come, zooming to meet our thunder;
At 'em boys, give 'er the gun!
Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,
Off with one hell-of-a-roar!
We live in fame or go down in flame.
NOTHING WILL STOP THE U. S. AIR FORCE!

Happy Birthday, America.

=) JB

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me; give me liberty or give me death!"
-- Patrick Henry, US orator, patriot, & politician in American Revolution (1736 - 1799)